


first comes love (...but it also comes last)

by FeelingFredly



Category: Bleach
Genre: Post-Canon, Protective Hiyori, Wordcount: 100-500
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:54:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23527978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeelingFredly/pseuds/FeelingFredly
Summary: Hiyori will protect the ones she cares about--even fromhim.
Relationships: Hirako Shinji & Sarugaki Hiyori, Hirako Shinji/Kurosaki Ichigo
Comments: 8
Kudos: 94





	first comes love (...but it also comes last)

**Author's Note:**

> I've never been a Hiyori fan, but sometimes the frustrating ones have the best motivations.

It wasn’t Shinji’s girls that were the problem; she was used to them. He had his _first loves_ , but she knew what that meant. If they were his _first_ , then that just meant that they weren’t his _last_.

_Last_ was what mattered. She was the one that was there at the end. The one that carried him bleeding from the field of battle. The one who made sure he ate and rested and didn’t fall into the endless black simmering inside him, even if it took yelling and sandal throwing to keep him distracted from the jagged edge. It didn’t matter that he flirted, that he ranted, that he poked and prodded and turned the world upside down.

“Eh Shinji! I have to go or I’m going to be late. Remember that Yuzu is expecting you for dinner tonight.”

Ichigo’s voice cut through the warehouse, and she struggled not to clench her teeth. Urahara’s golden boy was everywhere—cooking in the kitchen with Hachi, playing the guitar with Love—his stupid reiatsu leaking constantly, so strong she couldn’t ignore it, couldn’t pretend it wasn’t always there. She could feel the residue of it on Shinji hours after the kid left for his classes at the University, pretending he was normal and alive and _human_.

“Yes, Ichi-chan,” Shinji walked out of their bedroom to see Ichigo off, affection clear in his voice. “Just remember that I’m not the one that was late last week. Or the week before. Or….” The teasing faded off and Hiyori tried not to think of what swallowed the sound and failed.

It wasn’t right. The kid had more power than anyone she’d ever known, and it terrified her. Oh, not that he’d turn on Soul Society or the Visored. No. It was worse. Ichigo refused to accept that he would never be _human_ again, maybe that he _never was_ , and if he denied himself so absolutely, he could never be trusted not to deny other things. _Other people_.

So. She would do what she always did. She would watch and wait and put the pieces back together when it all inevitably came crashing down.

_Last_. It was a burden she was honored to bear.


End file.
